Search Engines Resources
Search Engines and Directories | Search Engines For Search Engines | General Information
Search Engines and Directories
Google
http://www.google.com/
Google began as a research project at Stanford University. In contrast to traditional ranking methods used by most other search engines, this one uses popularity to determine result order. To accomplish this for a page, Google basically looks at how many other pages point to the site and how important each is. Because it analyzes text in and around hyperlinks, it can draw conclusions about pages it doesn't actually visit. On June 26, 2000 Google announced that it now offers access to 560 million full-text indexed web pages and 500 million partially indexed URLs, making it the largest search engine on the World Wide Web. Google's creators are so confident that their methods will give users what they want as the first item in the result list, they offer an alternative to the normal search in the form of query submission button marked "I'm feeling lucky" which will take the user directly to that page. A nice feature is the "cache" option, which allows users to view a site as it appeared when it was indexed. Also offered along with each result is a "Similar Pages" option which when chosen directs Google to search further for related pages at the same level of generality (e.g., home-page level). Google's developers remain busy expanding its services through features such as searches and displays in other languages, image searches which return thumbnails along with URLs, and access to Usenet discussion forums.
Ask Jeeves
http://www.ask.com/
Since Ask Jeeves came on the Web scene in final form in 1997, it has enjoyed continually growing popularity. The reason is simple: Ask Jeeves accepts questions in plain English, allowing users to skip the frustrations of forming complex search phrases with symbols and/or Boolean operators. Human operators are at work behind the scenes, forming and answering likely questions beforehand and then placing that information into an ever-growing knowledge base of over seven million items. Once a visitor enters a query like "Why is the Sun yellow?" Ask Jeeves uses semantic and syntactic processing techniques to determine the meaning, then compares the results to its database, and presents the user with a series of similar questions to which it knows the answer.
Alta Vista
http://www.altavista.com/
Considered to be one of the major search engines, Alta Vista offers visitors a variety of search options and features one of the largest web page indexes. Users submit their queries through a simple interface that allows for searches on keywords, exact phrases, Boolean operators, and wild cards. As well, Alta Vista has partnered with AskJeeves to provide for natural language queries. Searches can be narrowed by area within the boundaries of web pages, news, discussion groups, products, images, MP3/audio, and video.
AlltheWeb
http://www.alltheweb.com/
Since its inception in 1997, AlltheWeb (formerly FAST Search) has made tremendous steps towards living up to its promise to "find it all," claiming over two billion web pages; hundreds of millions of multimedia, audio, and FTP files; and tens of millions of PDFs and Word documents in its index. Users can search over 45 selected languages and can query on specific terms by domain, IP address, file format, date, and size.
Yahoo!
http://www.yahoo.com/
In the Internet world, Yahoo! is technically a directory-search engine hybrid. In contrast to search engines, which routinely scan the Web to seek out content, directories are topical collections of human-selected web pages generally chosen from user submissions. Users can search the Yahoo! database through a simple interface or browse directly through topical lists. Yahoo! first searches its directory to satisfy a query and then calls on its search engine partner, Google, for relevant web pages. Search results are sorted such that Yahoo! categories appear first, followed by sponsor matches and web pages. Through brisk marketing, Yahoo! has established itself as the most popular service of its kind.
Kartoo
http://www.kartoo.com
Kartoo offers a fun twist on the usual search engine result list - it is a meta search engine that graphically maps terms and web page relationships through Flash technology. By moving their mouse a displayed "node," users can see a short description of the page, which search engine returned the result, and how it is connected to others. Clicking on a node will take you to that particular page. As an alternative means of navigation, a sidebar shows the top sites and topics related to your search term; moving the mouse over any given one causes related nodes in the map to be highlighted. Small arrow icons offer access to further results. New users should plan to spend a little time exploring all the options, which are, unfortunately, not well-documented, but which offer a great deal of functionality (choosing the "expert" option, for instance, opens up more than a dozen others, including "save" and "print"). An HTML version is available for those who prefer not to use Flash or just like their results in the classic list format.
Search Engines and Directories | Search Engines For Search Engines | General Information
Search Engines For Search Engines
Beaucoup
http://www.beaucoup.com/
Beaucoup is a topically ordered directory of over 2,500 search engines ranging from those with web-wide coverage to ones that are site-specific. None of the links are annotated, so visitors must either have an idea of what they want going in or be prepared to do some sifting. Annotations, subcategories, alphabetized lists, and a site search engine are all promised for sometime in the future. An annoyance: the site's "Super Search" engine is really the Mamma.com search engine in disguise; it allows users to search multiple engines at once but doesn't allow any choice as to which ones are queried.
Search Engines and Directories | Search Engines For Search Engines | General Information
Search Engine Watch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
Danny Sullivan, the creator and editor of Search Engine Watch, has made this site the best place on the Web to get information about search engines. Among his many offerings are overviews of the major players, insights into indexing and ranking procedures, tutorials on search techniques, tips for webmasters, popularity guides, guides to technical performance, and summaries of legal issues. Site visitors who pay a subscription fee receive access to additional pages presenting more in-depth treatment of subjects in the public area such as details of how several major search engines work. Sullivan also writes and distributes The Search Engine Report, a free, monthly, e-mail newsletter covering recent developments in the search engine world.
Search Engine Showdown
http://www.notess.com/search/
This site's owner, Greg Notess, bills these pages as "The User's Guide to Web Searching." Information is offered in several categories including "Features," "Analysis," "News", and "Reviews." In addition to maintaining this service, Mr. Notess is a regular contributor to Online magazine.
March 4, 2005
